To have surgery or not, that's the question.

Posted 06-25-2013 07:39 AM by bshorter30

Good morning everyone. I was going to write last night, but yesterday was one of the harder days in dealing with my pain.

It started like any other day. I wake up and make coffee. While its brewing I take my pain medication and lay down on the couch, and wait for it to kick in. My neck pain isn't the worst pain I have ever felt but enough to worry me, and having me take meds for.

As the day went my hands, yes both, we're tingling. My hernieation is on the right side with cord compression, signal loss and nerve compression, all on the right side. So inessance i shouldnt be having any symptoms on my left side , right? What was different yesterday was that my right arm was having more pain and nerve issues then normal. My son was karotee chopping my arm and every hit sent nerve pain down my arm to my thumb. No matter where in my arm it happened. This worries me more because its new.

My Neurosurgeon wants to do surgery. Me being the chicken little that I am, I don't. I asked about the esi injections so he said let's try them. After the first one I'm a bit discouraged. I have heard from many people on the boards it takes more then one. My real worry is permanent nerve damage in my arm because of my fear of surgery. I read all these stories of people going months and months with their pain and symptoms. Finally having surgey when they are as bad as I am now. I have only been dealing with this for 6 weeks or so, and am steadily feeling as if I'm getting worse, with the exemption of muscle spasms. I do still get them and my back and neck are tight as ever, but their intenseaty are more bearable.

I have this idea if I can just get to July, I will wake up one day and all this will have been a dream, or all my symptoms are gone. I know I know, it's not likely to happen, but a girl can dream right.

This morning my pain started as soon as my eyes opened. I know I didn't over do it yesterday I don't know why. When dealing with backs and necks who knows. I tell my family my neck has a mind if its own. Another question came to mind about my pain level. During the day I am medicated, pain meds, muscle relaxers and some ibprofin. I wonder if this is just masking my symptoms. If I stop them will I return to the amount of pain I was in to start with. Or will it have gotten better. I think I might just try no meds one day this week to test the theory.

So do I call my surgeon and schedule surgery or wait longer risking permanent damage, to see if this heals. Oh man I wish I had a crystal ball!

Well those are my ramblings and worries. Lets see what today has in store for me ! Happy healing all!